S8 Ep. 7: Maggie Tokuda-Hall on Project 2025’s Plans For Book Bans

fiction/non/fiction

In the wake of the election, writer Maggie Tokuda-Hall joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss what Project 2025 has in store for authors and book bans. Tokuda-Hall explains Project 2025’s misuse of terms like “critical race theory” and “pornography” and how these will be used to attack mainstream content, especially material by BIPOC and LGBTQ creators. She analyzes conservatives’ plans to make reading less accessible to the general population and talks about co-founding the new organization, Authors Against Book Bans. She also reflects on her experiences with corporate attempts to censor her books for children and young adults, the importance of libraries, and how individuals can resist by connecting with others and by understanding and focusing on their own expertise.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Maggie Tokuda-Hall

• The Worst Ronin
• The Siren, the Song, and the Spy
• The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea
• Love in the Library
• Squad

Others:

• Authors Against Book Bans
• Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5, Episode 13: "Censoring the American Canon: Farah Jasmine Griffin on Book Bans Targeting Black Writers"
• "The Republicans’ Project 2025 is Disastrous For Books," by James Folta | LitHub
• Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5, Episode 12: "Intimate Contact: Garth Greenwell on Book Bans and Writing About Sex"
• Alex DiFrancesco's resignation from Jessica Kingsley Publishers | X
• Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6, Episode 52: "Brooklyn Public Library’s Leigh Hurwitz on Helping Young People Resist Censorship"
• Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4, Episode 20: "Adam Serwer on Critical Race Theory and the Very American Fear of Owning Up to Our Racist Past and Present"
• Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7, Episode 22: “Rachel Bitecofer on Democratic Strategies to Counter Republicans in the 2024 Election”
• And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell, and Henry Cole
• Idaho House Bill No. 710
• Iowa Senate File 496
• Book Bans | PEN America
• Kimberlé Crenshaw

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